Shelton inmate found dead of apparent suicide in Connecticut prison

SOMERS >> The Department of Correction is investigating the apparent suicide of a Shelton man serving a five-year sentence for first-degree burglary found dead his cell Saturday.

John Joseph Filippone, 63, was found dead on Saturday from an apparent suicide at Osborn Correctional Institute in Somers, Department of Correction spokesperson Karen Martucci confirmed Monday. Martucci said Filippone was serving a five-year sentence for first-degree burglary. He was sentenced in March 2014 and had been in DOC custody since Jan. 30, 2014.

Filippone was found unresponsive at his assigned cell at about 1:15 p.m., Martucci said. He was found with a “ligature around his neck.”

Live-saving measures were administered when he was found, Martucci said, but Filippone was later pronounced dead at about 2:14 p.m. at an outside hospital.

Martucci confirmed that the incident is under investigation by the DOC. She added that the cause of death will “ultimately be determined by the medical examiner.”

According to severalnews reports from 2013, Filippone was arrested a few days after he broke into a 78-year-old woman’s home and stole her purse in July 2013. He had at least one prior conviction, according to online court records.

Filippone’s public defender told the Valley Independent Sentinel in 2013 that Filippone was effectively homeless at the time of his arrest for the burglary charges. His last known address was in Shelton, according to the Sentinel.